A Thousand Words
by otaku9
Summary: Zanarkand, the city that never sleeps. Lenne, an unknown singer from Besaid. Shuyin, a famous blitzball player from the city of Zanarkand. Tells the tale of how these two unlikely people met. Takes place long before Final Fantasy X and X-2.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own_ Final Fantasy X-2. Takes place a thousand years ago. _

**A Thousand Words**

_Zanarkand. The city that never sleeps….._ Lenne mused as she looked at this beautiful city.

"I can't believe it!" Her friend Ukkir (1) squealed in excitement. "We are in _the _Zanarkand!" She was waving three tickets in the air.

Ukkir's family, a bunch of Al-Bhed sphere hunters, had managed to get tickets to the Championship Game between the Zanarkand Abes and the Zanarkand Duggies.

"I know!" Lenne agreed. "I can't believe we actually got tickets to the big game!"

"How 'bout you, Eniap?"(2) Ukkir asked the older girl.

Eniap just shrugged and said, "Sure." Eniap is not really the talkative type.

"You know," Ukkir told the two girls, "I heard that the Zanarkand Duggies play dirty!"(3)

Lenne gasped. "Oh my," She murmured, "I hope nothing bad happens."

"Don't worry, Lenny!" (4) Ukkir tried to assure her friend, "The Zanarkand Abes always win!"

As they took their seats, the announcer said, "Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to the Championship Game between the Zanarkand Abes!" The audience cheered for that winning team. "….And the Zanarkand Duggies!" The audience booed when they heard that name.

"So," the announcer continued, "Without any further ado, let's get this game started!"

And the audience cheered as the game began.

As the game went on, the Duggies were gaining against the Abes.

"Come on!" Ukkir yelled along with the rest of the crowd, "My great-grandfather can kick a ball better than you Abes!"

"Please," Lenne begged her, pulling on her arm. "Sit down."

"What's wrong with them?" Ukkir complained as she sat down. "They should be beating the Duggies' asses by now."

"It's a strategy." Eniap muttered. Lenne and Ukkir turned to her. "They plan to look defeated," she explained, her red eyes on the players, "Then, while the Duggies are cocky and think they can win, they will come right back in and beat their asses!" She jumped up in excitement from this.

Everyone started to look strangely at her, like she was a Chocobo in a Moogle crowd.

"Well," Eniap cleared her throat and quickly sat back down, her cheeks red in embarrassment, "At least, that's what I believe."

True to what she said, in the next half, the Abes were back on top, according to the announcer.

"Pssssst, hey Lenne," Ukkir whispered to her, "Which one of those blitzball players do you think is cute?"

"Me?" Lenne asked shyly, "Well I-"My eyes are on the red head!" Ukkir interrupted her.

The boy Ukkir was referring to had red hair spiked into a point and brown eyes. (5) He threw the ball with all his might into the goal. "What about you, Eniap?" Ukkir leaned over to her. Eniap just blushed and turned her head away.

"N-Nobody." She insisted, even though it was obvious she was lying.

"Is it that brown haired one?" She pointed to another player.

This player had long brown haired tied up in a ponytail. A pair of glasses lied on his face. (6)

"S-Shut up!" Eniap exclaimed, turning her body away from Ukkir.

She turned back to Lenne and smiled at her evilly. "Well," she said, "How about you, Lenne? Which boy do you think is cute?"

"Well," Lenne blushed as red as Eniap. "I-I honestly like the blonde haired one."

The blonde had bright blue eyes and his hair was spiky. As he kicked the ball to one of his teammates, Lenne could've sworn that he was looking at _her._

_But that can't be,_ Lenne shook her head, _this guy's probably got a girlfriend for every day of the week. _Including_ weekends._

"_That_ was awesome!" Ukkir cried out as they walked out of the stadium. "The Zanarkand Abes totally beat the Duggies right out of the water!" She jumped around and cheered, causing passer-byes to stare at them.

"It was okay, I guess." Eniap said, her arms crossed.

"Yeah," Ukkir said sarcastically, "it was totally okay because you were jumping around and cheering, your arms in the air." Eniap just glared at her.

"Well," Lenne said, pushing between the two girls, "I thought it was just wonderf-Thunk!"

Next thing she knew, she fell right to the ground.

"Oh man!" The person above her said. "I'm so sorry! Are you alright?" The person held out their hand to her.

"Yeah," Lenne said dazedly, "Yeah I'm fin…" She gazed at the person who was helping her up.

It was the blonde player at the game!

"Whoa," She said in awe, looking him up and down.

"Hey," the blonde brought her out of her thoughts. "Are you sure you're alright?"

Lenne shook her head. "Y-Yeah." She stuttered, blushing at the blonde.

He let go of her hand. "Man," he said, looking sadly at her with his beautiful blue eyes, "I feel really bad for knocking you down. There's got to be some way to repay you."

He paced for a bit, scratching his head as he thought of an idea.

"I know!" He stopped suddenly, looking back at Lenne, "Why don't I take you and your little friends over there to my place!"

"Oh, no," Lenne said, backing away from him, "We-"'d love to!" Ukkir suddenly said, pushing Lenne into the blonde.

The blonde smiled brightly. "That's great!" And he started to walk away.

"Oh!" He quickly turned back to her. "By the way," He held his hand out, "My name's Shuyin." He smiled at her.

Lenne smiled sweetly. "It's a pleasure," she said, placing her hand on top of his hand, "My name's Lenne."

_End of chapter one. _

_1-Ukkir, as you might have realized, is Rikku spelled backwards._

_2-Eniap, as you may have realized, is Paine spelled backwards. And yes, she's a bit OOC. But I wanted to show a little bit of emotion in the girl._

_Also, I wanted to make it like Yuna, Rikku, and Paine are in _Final Fantasy X-2_._

_3-The whole "Zanarkand Duggies play dirty!" thing I actually got from the Final Fantasy Wiki._

_4-When Ukkir called Lenne "Lenny" that's a reference to Rikku calling Yuna "Yunie"._

_5-Yes, the red head is Wakka._

_6-And the brown haired man is Nooj._

_The characters may be a bit OOC, but please review and tell me how you think._


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own_ Final Fantasy X-2. Takes place a thousand years ago. _

**A Thousand Words**

_Chapter 2_

"Oh. My!" Ukkir gasped. "I can't believe we are Shuyin's house!"

She looked around in awe at the sweet crib.

She was sitting on the very large sofa, fiddling around with the remote to the plasma screen.

"Man, Lenne," Eniap said, wearing a Zanarkand Abes jersey, "How did you manage to meet the captain of the Zanarkand Abes!?"

"I-I don't know," Lenne said shyly, sitting in the armchair next to the couch next to the window.

"Hey!" Shuyin called out, a towel wrapped around his waist from his shower, "How are you laides doing?"

Terrific!" Ukkir jumped up, "This place is awesome!"

"Thanks!" Shuyin grinned at her. Then he turned to Lenne. "How about you?" He asked.

"Oh!" Lenne sat up straight. "T-This place is beautiful."

"Yeah," Shuyin agreed, walking by her, "It is. It also has an amazing view of the city." And with that, he threw open the curtains to reveal a huge black city.

The lights were bright and shiny and people were still out, talking and laughing.

"Wow!" All three of the girls said.

"Yeah," He admitted, "It's beautiful isn't it?" "Yeah," Lenne said in awe, scribbling down something onto a piece of paper.

"Whatcha doing?" Shuyin asked, looking at the paper Lenne had written down on. "N-Nothing." She said, hiding the piece of paper.

"Writing down something for your songs, Lenny?" Ukkir reached in her pocket and pulled out the piece of paper. "Ukkir!" Lenne exclaimed.

"You write songs?" Shuyin asked, taking the paper from Ukkir.

"Well," Lenne blushed, messing around with her hands, "In my spare time. But, there nothing, really."

"Well," Shuyin said, giving Lenne the piece of paper back, "I would like to hear something."

"Well," Lenne said, still blushing, "I have been working on a bit of a song. It, uh, well, it goes like this…."

_"I know that you're hiding things, using gentle words to shelter me. Your words were like a dream. But dreams could never fool me, not that easily._

_ "I acted so distant then, didn't say goodbye before you left. But I was listening. You'll fight your battles far from me, far too easily._

_ "'Save your tears, 'cause I'll come back" I could hear that you whispered as you walked through that door. But still I swore to hide that pain when I turn back the pages._

_ "Shouting might have been the answer. What if I had cried my eyes out and begged you not to depart? But now I'm not afraid to say what's in my heart._

_ "'Cause a thousand words, call out through the ages. They'll fly to you, even though I can't see, I know they're reaching you. Suspended on silver wings._

_ "Oh, a thousand words, one thousand embraces, will cradle you, making all of your weary days seem far away. They'll hold you forever."_

Lenne opened her eyes to see Shuyin staring at her in awe. "What?" She asked.

"That, was beautiful." He said, pushing some of her brown hair back. "Thank you," She blushed again.

Shortly after that, the girls decided to leave.

"So," Shuyin said, leaning on his doorway, looking at Lenne, "Will I see you again?"

"Well," Lenne said, "We are staying in Zanarkand for a week."

"Great!" Shuyin exclaimed. "So, I'll see you tomorrow?"

Lenne smiled. "I think I'd like that." And they girls walked out.

"Ooooooooh!" Ukkir said, poking Lenne. "Lenny's got a little boyfriend!"

"No!" Lenne denied Ukkir's claim. "No I don't!"

"Yeah right!" Ukkir disagreed. "Eniap and I saw how you looked at that man, didn't we?" She looked up at the older girl.

"Leave me out of this." Eniap said, her usual expression on her face.

"No, no," Lenne denied again, "He and I are just acquaintces who accidentally bumped into each other."

But Ukkir knew better.


End file.
